Boat trips from Puerto Rico, Gran Canaria

The boats leave from Puerto de Mogán, the next town along the coast. From Puerto Rico it is a little over a quarter of an hour by road on the GC-500, and there is a bus along that same coast; check the times on the day on the bus company site, as they change with the season.

Why it is worth the short drive

Because the sea is not the same. Mogán sits on the far south-west corner of the island, in the lee of the trade winds: the wind drops earlier, the water clears, and swimming stops hold up on days when it is already choppy further east.

And because the road ends west of Mogán. What starts there is a wall of cliffs with beaches no path goes down to — Veneguera, El Perchel and, further on, Güigüí — and you only see it from the water.

What you can book

The whole boat, by the hour

You hire the boat with a skipper, not a seat on it: the price is the same for two of you or for the group, and nobody else comes aboard. You pick the day, then the length of the trip, then the departure time — in that order, because which times are free depends on how long you keep the boat.

The Güigüí trip

Half a day out to the beach with no road to it, swimming and snorkelling. It is the trip people cross half the island for, so from Puerto Rico it is an easy yes.

Parasailing and short activities

If the plan is a morning and back, parasailing takes very little time and you take off from the boat platform. No experience needed, and you do not have to be a swimmer.

Planning the day

Book the things that leave at a fixed time; improvise the rest. Doing both sea and land in one day? Put the sea in the morning — the wind usually gets up as the afternoon goes on.

And leave a phone number. Trips here get moved for swell, wind or calima, sometimes the same morning, and an email is no use to anyone at seven o’clock.